Witch's Brew
by AWomanKing
Summary: It was then that the small woman rose from her seat with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, and let out a distinct, "Hem, hem." Sequel to The Rabbit Hole. Cedric/OC.
1. Driving Lessons

**Author's note: **_This fanfiction is focused on an original character, _and is the sequel to **The Rabbit Hole**, which I would suggest reading first. If you do not like OCs or fics that focus on them, I suggest going back now. Thank you.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's characters, creatures, or places.

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**Chapter 1**

Driving Lessons

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It had appeared in the _Daily Prophet_ the day after Lucy had arrived home; the headline was printed in large block letters over an article that took up a little less than half of the second page of the wizarding newspaper and was accompanied by a huge moving photograph of Viktor Krum that took up most of the small space that the news had been given.

It had been written by a person named Barnaby Plumbcross and not, surprisingly, by the smarmy Rita Skeeter, and it read:

—

**Tragedy at Tournament**

Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian Seeker who played against Ireland in the 422nd Quidditch World Cup only last summer, died while participating in the just reinstated Triwizard Tournament. The Ministry has informed us that the young man's death was kept secret until they had finished their investigation, and they have determined that his death was accidental. They did, however, refuse to say the exact events surrounding the morbid affair.

Ministry officials have told us here at the _Daily Prophet_ that the Triwizard Tournament has been shut down once again due to this horrible turn of events, and that the likelihood that it will be reinstated again is very unlikely within the next decade or two at least. Recently appointed head of the _Department of Magical Games and Sports_, Thaddeus Fabel, has told us that the Ministry took every precaution possible, but it must be noted that not every situation or potential problem can be foreseen or prevented.

Bulgarian Ministry officials will be arriving soon to complete their own investigation into the matter. Viktor Krum was eighteen years old at the time of his death, and leaves behind his mother, Anka, and his father, Yoan.

—

Eamon, Cedric's Screech owl, had flown through Lucy's open bedroom window only an hour after the _Daily Prophet_ had arrived with a letter clutched firmly in his beak. The owl landed on the foot of her bed, which Lucy had been sitting on while attempting to start the paper over Animagus in the sixteenth century that Professor McGonagall had assigned for the summer, and she had been a bit startled at the owl's sudden arrival, but Maggie, who had been curled up beside her, had been unfazed; it seemed that the dog had gotten use to the arrival of strange birds to the house.

The letter that had been inside the envelope had obviously been written in a hurry; Cedric's normally perfectly legible handwriting was messy and jumbled, scrawling across the thin sheet of paper in thick strings that appeared to become more blotted with excess ink as he went.

He, too, had received a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and, after reading the tiny blurb that was the article that had announced Viktor Krum's death to the world, had read the whole paper front to back, searching for more information or for anything else at all about what had occurred. After finding nothing — no word of You-Know-Who's apparent return, the imposter who had presented himself as Mad-Eye Moody the previous school year, or the true cause of Viktor's death, he had written to her to let out his frustrations about how the Ministry was handling everything so far.

Cedric wasn't pleased that they had tried to pass what had happened to Viktor Krum off as some kind of accidental event of either his own doing or a small Ministry blunder that they only half accepted fault for, and he felt angry on the fallen boy's behalf. He also told her that he was considering writing to Viktor's parents, though he was worried about how his letter would be perceived, and that he was thankful that he hadn't told the Minister exactly what had occurred between him and the other boy in the maze now that the Ministry's intentions on the matter were clear.

After she had sent back a long reply with Eamon expressing how she too felt a bit put off by the way the news had been handled, Lucy shut her Transfiguration book and set her homework on her desk before heading downstairs to speak with her mother.

Felicity, who had already been aware of the incident due to her position at the Ministry and the letters that Lucy had sent home after it had happened, didn't say much in reply to her daughter's questions; she had avoided most of them all together, in fact, especially the one regarding her opinion on You-Know-Who's possible return, and remained tightlipped and stiff before she had eventually cut the conversation off completely with a sharp reply of, "That's enough for now."

Bliss's family's owl, Avis, had arrived the next day with a thick envelope attached to his leg and a strong appetite. After he had consumed the handful of owl treats that Lucy had given him and had taken a place on the top of her bookshelf to rest for a while, Lucy tore the envelope open and read the letter within it.

Apparently, after a very brief and sharp conversation with his family, Bliss's father, Walter Balcombe, had packed his bags and taken off to Bulgaria on "important Ministry business" on his own the night she and her sister had arrived home from school. He traveled often due to his position in the_ Department of International Magical Cooperation_, but this was the first time that he hadn't dragged his family along with him in over eight years and he hadn't given much of an explanation as to why.

Bliss had tried to ask her mother about why they hadn't been allowed to accompany him, but her questions had been ignored and she had been thoroughly told off for trying to stick her nose in where it shouldn't be. Of course, it was probably obvious that Bliss wasn't actually concerned about not traveling, as she hated being toted around by her parents during the summer, and was much more interested in knowing what the adults were up to, but she had continued to pester to no avail.

In the letter, she also mentioned that she had already written to her father twice with the same questions in mind, but he had yet to reply to her. Bliss promised to be persistent, however, and said that she planned to write to him daily until he finally sent something back.

This morning, July sixth, the day before Andrew's second birthday and almost a week since the beginning of the summer holidays, Avis had arrived early with another letter. The Barn owl had roused Lucy around seven with a loud screech outside of her window as it rasped at the glass, causing her to join in with a startled scream of her own as she jerked awake before falling from the bed.

After the owl had taken off once again and she had read through the letter, which had mostly consisted of Bliss complaining about how her father still hadn't replied and that she was becoming annoyed at the fact that she was clearly being ignored, Lucy shut the window and threw her blankets back on her bed as she made a note to herself to be sure to tell Bliss not to send Avis over so early in her next reply.

A few hours later, after she had dressed and stashed the letter within the pages of one of her books, Lucy found herself in the kitchen with a spatula in her hand.

Felicity, having decided that Lucy should take on more responsibilities and learn more life skills now that she was only a few months away from being of age, had decided to help her with her cooking; she was adamant that, contrary to what her daughter thought, people could not live on fruit and toasted items for long. Her parents had also decided that they would give her driving lessons during this summer and her other school breaks, and that, hopefully, she would be able to get her license once she was finally out of school.

During her first lesson, which had been only a few days ago, she had driven over the curb in front of her neighbor's, the Milburns, fenced-in yard, and had almost hit a street sign along the way. After that, it was decided that the first few lessons would take place in the usually empty church car park and around their neighborhood and the few streets over until they were sure that she could handle the car properly.

Jack, who had agreed to teach an extra course over the summer at Cardiff University, had promised to take her for a lesson this afternoon once he returned home, but, as that wouldn't be for another hour or so and Andrew had just gone down for his nap, Felicity decided to take advantage of the extra time.

"Now," she said from her spot against the island, "don't try to flip it in the air."

"I'm not going to try to flip it, Mum," Lucy said with a small huff; her mother had been hovering over her ever since they had started and she was beginning to become slightly annoyed. "They're just pancakes. You don't have to watch me, really."

Felicity let out a soft snort at her daughter's words. "Right, sure," she said. "Remind me again about what happened the last time we tried this, please."

"The doorbell rang," Lucy said as she poked at the batter in the pan softly, "it was some businessman trying to sell us a vacuum or a blender or something…"

"Yes," Felicity said, nodding, "and what did I tell you before I went to answer the door?"

"Not to try to flip it in the air," she said, sighing.

Felicity nodded. "And what did you do as soon as I walked away?"

"I flipped it in the air," she muttered, embarrassed. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, and, besides, films and shows on the telly had made it seem so easy; they lied.

"And what happened after that?"

Lucy's cheeks burned slightly and she bit her lip for a moment before answering. "It got stuck to the ceiling."

"It got stuck to the ceiling," Felicity repeated, "and your father had to use the stepstool to reach it and scrape it off. So, to make sure that there won't be a repeat of that anytime soon, you'll just have to deal with me keeping an eye on you, all right?"

Lucy simply grumbled softly in response as she carefully flipped the pancake over to the side that had yet to brown, and she was thankful that she hadn't managed to burn it yet. She wasn't a very good cook; she found it tedious and, unlike with potions, she didn't generally care enough about it to pay much attention, but, then again, she knew that she couldn't live off of cereal for the rest of her life either.

The pancake batter wasn't homemade: it came from a store-bought mix that she and her mother had gotten yesterday at the local market and it had been rung up by a university student with heavy-looking earrings on and a large amount of blush on her cheeks, who had popped the gum in her mouth loudly every time that she spoke.

Felicity had stared hard at the teen at every sound of her teeth pulling out of the bright pink gum; it was one of her pet peeves, loud gum-chewers, and the smell of the sugary bubblegum had made her wrinkle her nose slightly as she smiled stiffly at the cashier in thanks before grabbing her bags and hurrying out of the building.

They had also bought a cake for her brother's birthday while they were there. It was simple — chocolate with vanilla icing, but it had blue cars drawn on it along with "Happy Birthday, Andrew" written on the top. They'd even picked up a large, number two candle to use for tomorrow, which reminded her…

"Cedric wrote last night," Lucy said as she used the spatula to pick up the now finished pancake and placed it on the plate next to the stove with the others she'd already done. "He said that he'll be able to come tomorrow. He passed his Apparition exam, and he said that he'll probably be round around one, right after it starts."

Felicity nodded. "That's nice," she said, before clearing her throat. "How is he, by the way? Is he still upset?"

"You mean about the article?" Lucy asked. "Yeah, he is. I mean, he's cooled off a bit, but he's not happy about how it was handled at all."

"Well, I can't disagree with that. They didn't really do a particularly good job of honoring Viktor Krum's memory," Felicity said, sighing. "I thought for sure the article would take up the whole front page, not just a small bit of the second, which most people skip over since it's normally mostly advertisements or opinion pieces. At least it wasn't written by Rita Skeeter. That's a blessing."

"I guess," Lucy said, shrugging. "I don't know if they'd actually trust her to write something like that, though. Isn't she usually the one they get to "spice up" the news? I can't see them wanting to do that with an article like this one."

"Yeah," she said, "she usually turns up in _Witch Weekly_ not the _Daily Prophet_, because she knows how to hook her readers. Actually, though, I haven't seen anything by her for the past two weeks. That's a bit odd, considering she pops up all the time…"

Lucy shrugged again and turned off the stove before setting the cooling pan in the sink. "She'll show up again, I'm sure," she said, "especially now that this has happened. I mean, she was always hanging around during the Tournament, so why wouldn't she say something?"

"I don't know," Felicity said, shaking her head, "but with everything that's going on, I'm sure she'll be back with a vengeance very soon."

"What do you mean, with everything that's going on?" Lucy asked. "Do you mean the investigation that the paper mentioned, the Bulgarian Ministry?"

"Lucy," she said sternly, "I've already told you that I can't discuss Ministry business with you, so stop asking me about it. My position on the matter isn't going to magically change if you ask me at just the right time, all right?"

"But they are going to investigate, aren't they?" Lucy asked in a rush. "I mean, there's no way that they can just let what happened to Viktor go. His parents will want to know exactly what happened to him, won't they? I mean, wouldn't you if it had been me?"

"Of course I would," she said quietly, "and I hope that you don't doubt that. They do deserve to know, one way or the other, but, as I've already said a number of times, I am not allowed to discuss these things with you. I know, I know," she added hastily when Lucy opened her mouth to argue, "you're almost of age and anxious, but I can't."

"But —"

"No," she said, ending the conversation as she took the plate of pancakes from Lucy's hand and set them on the table.

An hour after her unsuccessful attempt to gather information into what the Ministry was up to, Jack arrived home with his suitcase in his hand and the soles of his dress shoes caked in mud.

Apparently, he hadn't had a very good day; one of his students had accidently knocked his morning coffee onto the floor and the ends of his trousers around eight, hardly anyone had done the reading that he'd assigned a few days ago, and a stray dog had snatched his sandwich while he was sitting on one of the benches outside during his lunch break. He had run after it for a few minutes before officially giving up and walking back with muddy shoes and nothing to eat.

Once he had changed out of his suit and eaten something, he grabbed the car keys and he and Lucy headed out to start the driving lesson.

Jack drove the short way to the church before switching places with her and letting her attempt to drive. He instructed her on the proper way to stop, to use her indicators, to be sure to check the speedometer regularly, where the handbrake was, how to turn on the fog lights, what certain road signs meant, and made sure to mention that no food should be eaten in the car due to the fact that he didn't want to have to clean up all of the crumbs afterward.

After an hour of swerving around the empty car park and being watched by a group of curious elderly ladies from the small space between the curtains in the windows of the church's community area, the two of them switched places again and Jack headed back out onto the road toward Cardiff bay.

Since they had been planning to practice an hour longer but had stopped short for the day and now had some extra time together, Jack thought up the idea that they could go get some ice creams at the small parlor that he had taken her to a few times when she was younger. He called it "a bit of a walk down memory lane," before he pulled up in from of the small shop and parked the car.

_Sylvia's Sweet Shop_ had been around for as long as Lucy could remember, and it was a family-owned establishment; it had been originally owned by an older woman by the name of Sylvia Castlewest and was now run by her son and his wife. It was a fairly small shop, as well, but it usually had a good number of customers in it at a time, which was why they had set up an outdoor area with more tables in the front a few years ago.

After they had gotten their orders of a scoop of chocolate chip and another of two scoops of butter pecan, Jack and Lucy took a seat at one of the tables outside. The sky was a dull shade of blue and was getting cloudier by the second, meaning that it would probably rain later in the day, but the giant red umbrella attached to the table would block out any early droplets if the weather should take a sudden turn.

"You got the same thing the last time we were here," Jack said, digging the little plastic spoon into his own ice cream, "chocolate chip."

"That was over five years ago, Dad," she said, shaking her head softly. "How do you even remember that?"

Jack shrugged. "I just do, I guess," he said, chuckling softly. "So, how is your…friend doing, then?"

"My friend?" she asked, confused. "Which friend are you talking about exactly, Dad?"

"You know," he said, shifting uncomfortably, "your friend…"

Seeing his discomfort, she realized who he meant. "You mean Cedric, right?" she said as he nodded. "He's all right, I guess. I mean, he's still miffed about the article and everything, but he's seems okay otherwise."

"Good, good," he said, nodding stiffly. "So, I'm guessing that he'll be coming to Andrew's birthday party tomorrow, too, won't he? Your mother said that you invited him."

"Yeah, he will," she said. "Do you not want him to?"

"Oh, no, it's fine, really," he said. "Why would you think that I wouldn't want him to come?"

"Well," she said after swallowing a spoonful of her ice cream, "you won't even call him my boyfriend, Dad. What am I supposed to think?"

Jack sighed and pushed his half-empty cup away. "I know, I know," he said, shaking his head. "It just feels a bit odd, and it's taking a lot of getting use to. It was hard enough getting use to the fact that you're becoming an adult, but dating…"He paused and cleared his throat before continuing. "I mean, I didn't even have my first romantic rendezvous until I was nineteen, and here you are a whole three years younger…"

"Romantic rendezvous?" she laughed. What an odd expression to use.

"Don't be cheeky, Lucy," he said, giving her a stern look. "I know very well that we're both getting older, but it takes some time to accept change, so just bare with me for a while, all right? I promise I'll get over it eventually, and I'll be nice to him tomorrow, so don't worry about it."

"All right," she said, nodding as she finished off the rest of the treat. "You know, though, Dad, you're really not that old."

"I feel old," he said, scoffing. "Hell, even the driving lessons make me feel older. Of course, I never really thought that your mother and I would be teaching you how to drive considering that I know…" He looked around to make sure that no one was near enough to hear, "that _you lot_ have other ways of getting around, or at least that's what your mother told me."

"Oh, right," she said. "Yeah, _we lot_ do have a few, but I don't mind learning how anyway."

"Well, your mother and I know how hard you've been working," he said, "and we know that you want to be able to do more things on your own, especially because of your age, so we thought why not. You don't have to do anything with the license if or when you get one, but you'll have it if you need it, you know?"

"I know," she said, smiling. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet," he said, laughing. "You can barely handle the car right now. At least wait until you can drive on the road without hitting a street sign."

Lucy smiled and shrugged. "I'll get it the hang of it eventually. Well, probably," she said. "So, besides today, how has the summer course been going?"

"It's been decent, I suppose," Jack said as he thought about it. "I don't know how many of them are actually interested in learning about nineteenth century literature, but I guess I'll find out how much they've actually been paying attention once I grade their exams."

"Exams?" she asked. "Haven't you only been teaching the class for a week or two?"

"Yes, but summer courses go at a faster pace than normal ones, and they knew about it since the first day of class; I even put all of it on the syllabus, so if they fail it's their own fault," he said. "I stupidly promised them that I'd give them their results tomorrow morning, too, so I have to do that later tonight and —" He suddenly cut himself off with wide eyes, and then his face fell as he let out a frustrated sound. "I forgot them. Damn."

"The exams?"

Jack nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I left them on my desk," he said, "and I was in such a hurry to get home after everything that happened today that I forgot all about them." He stood from his chair swiftly and dug his hand in the pocket of his trousers, pulling out the car keys. "I'll have to go and get them. Come on, I'll drop you off at home first."

After putting their trash in the large rubbish bin near the shop's entrance, the two of them hurried back into the car and set off on the ten minute journey to the house. There was little traffic and the streetlights seemed to be in their favor, which cut the already short drive even shorter, and the little car soon stopped in front of 7A Warrington Drive.

Lucy got out of the car and walked around it, moving quickly toward the front door to unlock it. Once she had managed to do so, she turned and gave her father a brief wave goodbye before walking into the foyer and shutting the door softly behind her as he started the car again and took off down the lane.

The house was quiet; her mother was nowhere to be seen, Archimedes was snoozing in the corner of the dining room on his perch, and she could hear Maggie's muffled barking from out in the back garden. She crept up the stairs slowly, trying not to wake up her little brother, who she assumed was still napping in his room.

Once she had made it to the landing, she went into her room and removed her trainers, setting them on the floor of her bedroom cupboard before walking over to check on Vesper, who was sleeping in her open cage. She stroked the owl's feathers softly as Vesper leaned into her touch, before leaving her friend to rest; she had been out hunting the night before and hadn't gotten back until after Avis had already left and probably needed the sleep.

Lucy had planned on continuing to work on her essay for Transfiguration after the lesson and had sat down to write it, but, after thoroughly checking her school trunk and desk, she realized that she must have left it downstairs when she was half doing her homework and half listening to the news the night before. So, knowing that putting the assignment off would only make it more of a pain, she decided to go ahead and get it.

She made it across the tiny hallway and to the first step before she suddenly heard a voice from down below and froze. The voice was male and she recognized it immediately; it was the voice of her mother's old school friend and coworker, Aster McClaric, and, judging by tone of his voice, whatever they were discussing was serious.

At first she didn't know what to do with herself; if she moved back toward her bedroom they would hear her and know she was home, but if she didn't and they found out she'd been here all along they'd assume that she'd been eavesdropping. Should she announce herself, or listen in?

She was still trying to decide when she heard the Minister's name, and it was then that she made up her mind and let her curiosity get the better of her. Trying to not make any noise, she slowly lowered herself until she was sitting on the carpeted stair and took a deep breath as she began to take everything in.

"I was lucky enough to be assigned a Muggle-born in your area," she heard Aster say as he took a loud sip from his teacup, "otherwise I may not have been able to come, as it may have looked a bit suspect. With the way Fudge has been acting lately, I wouldn't be surprised if he thought we were meeting to conspire against him."

"I just don't understand what he's doing anymore, Aster," her mother said, sighing. "What does he think is going to happen when the Bulgarian Ministry gets involved? They're not going to just accept what he says at face value, and this isn't just going to go away or blow over. What does he even plan on doing?"

"My guess is that he'll try to discredit Dumbledore first," said Aster, "what with his declaration he made about how You-Know-Who has returned that he delivered to his students at the leaving feast. Fudge won't want people to believe him; it'd start a panic. Not to mention that the only evidence there is toward his return is the word of a fourteen year old boy."

"And the body of Viktor Krum," said Felicity softly. "I don't want to believe that he's returned any more than anyone else, but what if he has, Aster? What if he really is back?"

She heard Aster sigh loudly, his voice starting to give away his weariness. "I don't know, Fee," he said. "I just don't know. For now, though, we must remember that there is no solid evidence pointing toward him having returned. Viktor Krum could easily have died accidently, and, not to claim that that poor boy is lying, but, as he witnessed the other boy's death, he could very well have imagined something that didn't occur to cope with what he saw. It's all a bit up in the air at the moment. Try not to worry for now, not while it's still unknown."

"How can I not worry about it?" Felicity asked, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke. "His followers murdered my father in his bed, broke my mother's heart, and destroyed my family. I can't see that happen again. The every thought of it…" She paused and took a shaky breath. "I don't know what I'd do, Aster. I really don't."

"I know, Fee. Believe me, I know," he said. "If anything were to happen to Jeanette or the boys — I can't even imagine it. It's too terrifying to imagine."

The two adults fell silent for a moment as the sound of tea cups being set on the table top and spoons hitting the edges carried up the stairs. "I never thought that it would happen twice, you know," said Felicity. "I thought it was over after what happened to Lily and James Potter. I had _hoped_ that it was over."

"Perhaps it is," said Aster softly. "As I've already said, Fee, we must remain calm for now. We don't want to cause a panic with the general public or within our own families, do we?" He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Maybe we should turn our minds toward a happier subject. You said that your begonias have bloomed already, right?"

"Oh," she said, clearing her throat. "Yes, they have."

"I would love to see them before I go," he said, the chair squeaking against the floor as he pushed away from the table and stood. "I have to get around to that family soon, after all."

With that, she heard her mother stand from her own seat and place the dirty teacups in the sink before the sound of the door to the back garden closing behind the pair reached her ears, and, after taking a moment to digest the new information, Lucy quickly rose from her place on the stairs and hurried back to her room to try and figure out what to do with what she'd just overheard.


	2. Birthday Blunders

**Author's note: **I will update again soon.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's characters, creatures, or places.

Thank you, **I-Angel92**,** ForeverTeamEdward13**, **DashingMcGee**, **junebugg18**, **fearless0601**, **Mandagal12**, **OhMyShipperHeart**, **jackie-hearts**, **GirlWithTheScarletHair**, **petticoat-of-doom**, **Nic Oakes**, **danceegirl92**, and **dischic07 **for the reviews and compliments!

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**Chapter 2**

Birthday Blunders

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Warrington Drive was located five to ten minutes away from Cathays Civic Center in Cathays, Cardiff, and was lined in two-story, terraced Victorian row houses that were a bit shabby around the outer edges. There were designated spaces on each side of the street for the cars of those who lived there, as none of the houses had garages or driveways of their own, and each front door had a bit of gated space in front of it, most of which were filled with shrubbery: ferns, begonia and rose bushes, overgrown ivy vines that curled around the fence and sometimes spilled onto the sidewalk pavement, small patches of grass, and thin brick walkways.

The houses themselves were made of brick with thick white trim around the windows and doors, and each had their own individual chimney protruding from the connected roofs; the front fences were half brick and half wrought iron spikes; there were small trees spaced out along the street, and, as Cathays had a large number of university students, most of the residents on Warrington Drive were in their late teens to early twenties aside from the Milburns, who were ancient and had lived there for close to fifteen years.

One side of the lane was reserved for the even numbered houses and the other for the odd, and, as the Quicks lived in 7A, they were placed near the center on the odd row. The people who lived in 7B, the Breens, were a young family of four who had only moved in a few months ago while Lucy had been away at school and she had only caught a glimpse of them once so far during the week that she'd been home.

Though the weather man on the morning news had said that today, July seventh, would be rather misty and chilled, the weather had clearly decided to disagree with him; the early morning fog had faded around nine, the sun had appeared out from behind the thick clouds as they thinned, the wind had settled, and the temperature had risen from the predicted sixty degrees to seventy-two.

Around noon and one hour before Andrew's second birthday party was scheduled to start, Lucy's aunt and uncle turned onto the street accompanied by their two youngest children and parallel parked their small car behind Jack's; Travis, his fiancée Pippa, and their ten-month-old daughter, Brindy, arrived a few minutes after them and, due to the lack of space, were forced to park on the street over and walk.

Felicity rushed to the door when the bell rang from her place in the kitchen decorating cupcakes, leaving Lucy there to finish up squeezing the thick homemade icing onto the tiny pastries as she welcomed in their extended family.

Four-year-old Linus was the first to enter, squeezing through the small space between the doorframe and his mother and skipping through the foyer before disappearing into the living room. John, who was currently holding a large, brightly wrapped present in his arms, followed his wife into the house after Patricia had pulled a slightly shocked Felicity in for a tight hug. Amanda, who had only recently turned thirteen, walked in after them with a small roll of her eyes and flip of her curly hair; she apparently hadn't wanted to come along and had decided to show her annoyance at being forced by acting as surly as she possibly could.

Pippa Kingston and soon-to-be Birch appeared in the doorway a moment later with a large and ruffled baby car carrier in her hands that made a soft cooing sound as she entered, and Travis quickly followed her in and shut the front door behind him. After helping his fiancée with the diaper bag slung over her shoulder, he reached down and unbuckled Brindy from the carrier and adjusted the little pink bow in her hair, fussing over her; seeing Travis being so caring toward another human being was an odd sight to see indeed.

Most of the decorating was already finished, as Felicity had been sure to talk Lucy and Jack into helping her blow up balloons and hang streamers after dinner the night before, but the large banner that read _Happy Birthday_ had yet to be hung over the fireplace and there were still a few sweets that need to be frosted.

After Jack and John had worked as a pair to tape the lightweight banner above the mantle without tearing it and had made sure that it was straight and not lopsided, and after the cupcakes were finished and the main goal had switched to making sure that there were enough plates for everyone, Pippa approached Lucy at the table where she was currently trying to organize the plastic utensils.

"So, how have you been?" Pippa said, sitting down as she settled Brindy in her lap. "Patricia said that your mother told her that you've finally found a boy for yourself."

"Er…Yeah, I guess," Lucy said uncomfortably; it felt weird to be discussing her love life with someone she had only met once. "I mean, yeah, I do. His name is Cedric, we met each other at school."

"Oooo," she said, smirking. "So you're teen sweethearts, then, are you? How romantic. Is he coming to the party today, too, or are you going to be on your own?"

"He'll be here," Lucy said as she placed the plastic cup filled forks to the side. "He said that he should be here at one, when the party starts."

"So we'll all get to meet him, then," she said, adjusting the ten-month-old in her arms. "Well, that's good. He'll get to meet the whole family at once, won't he? Then he'll meet mine at the wedding, of course."

"What do you mean, at the wedding?" Lucy asked, confused. "I thought that there wasn't a date set for it yet."

"Oh, I guess your mother didn't tell you, then," she said, looking slightly putout that her important news hadn't been properly shared. "We, Travis and I, are getting married next August. We figured that it'd be the perfect time, as the weather is usually at its best around then — we want to have an outdoor wedding, and all of our younger relatives should still be out of school for the summer holidays." She paused and hugged her daughter close as she kissed her on the head, causing the baby to look up at her. "Brindy is going to be our flower girl, and my cousin, Nicola, said that her five-year-old son could be our ring bearer. Isn't that fantastic?"

"Yeah, great," Lucy said, nodding as she smiled uneasily. The only thing that Pippa had talked about at Andrew's party last summer was her upcoming nuptials to Travis, and it was beginning to seem like this year would be very much the same.

"And…Cedric, is it?" she said, continuing when Lucy nodded. "He can escort you. Well, not during the actual ceremony, of course, as the bridesmaids have to be escorted down the aisle by the groomsman, but it should be fine during everything else, I think."

"What do you mean, not during the actual ceremony?" Lucy asked as she sat up straighter in her chair. "But I'm not going to be a part of that…"

"Oh, that's what I was meaning to ask you," Pippa said, grinning. "You see, I want to have both of our families in the wedding. I thought that it would be more meaningful that way, with all of us coming together and all. My sister, Paloma, is going to be my maid-of-honor, and Travis's other cousin, Mona, has agreed to be a bridesmaid, too. Have you met her before?"

"Yes, once, I guess," Lucy said softly as she tried to figure out the proper way to react to this news. Mona Birch was the daughter of John's brother, Howard, was a year younger than Lucy, and was very tall and lanky in appearance; she had towered over Lucy the one and only time they had met seven years ago, and she hadn't said a word.

"She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it — _she has a very nasally voice_," Pippa said in a low voice, "and it didn't sound like she wanted to do it, but I think that Howard bribed her into saying yes by promising to buy her a new computer afterward. My best friend Cheryl is going to be one and so is Amanda, and, since there's one more spot open and you're the only other close female relative that Travis has, I thought that you'd suit the part well. Please say that you will! I mean, your mum already said that you would."

"She did?" she asked, looking over at her mother, who was currently talking to her aunt next to the stove._ Of course she did, _she thought crossly;no matter how old she was, her mother continuously chose to speak for her when it came to things like this.

Pippa nodded. "Yeah, she said that she was going to tell you," she said, "but she _obviously _must have forgotten to do so."

"Right…"

"So, you'll do it, then?" she asked eagerly as Brindy giggled shrilly. "I'd really appreciate it if you would."

Lucy had never been to a wedding before, and she'd definitely never been asked to participate in one. What would it even entail? Probably wearing an extremely puffy dress and standing for hours in uncomfortable shoes. She wasn't sure if she would even be able to do the job that was needed without embarrassing herself or messing something up, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to do it at all, but Pippa looked so excited about the idea...

"Sure, I guess so. Why not, right?" she said, laughing awkwardly due to nerves. She let it trail off when she realized that the likelihood that she was making a fool out of herself was high.

"Perfect!" Pippa cried in excitement as she reached across the table and grasped Lucy's hand hard, surprising her. "We can all have our fittings together, though you'll have to come down to Surrey for each of those. Then again, you'll have to come down for the wedding anyway, right? Oh, and I have the ideal bridesmaid dress already picked out! It's blue and gorgeous. Do you like blue? What about tulle? At least, I think that the skirt is tulle…I'll have to check."

After twenty more minutes of talking about fabric, silhouettes, and whether or not tea-length would be the right way to go, the doorbell rang and Lucy rushed to answer it, anxious to escape the discussion.

Party guests started to file in after that, the doorbell ringing every few minutes as Felicity set the birthday cake on the table along with the other plates full of sweets. Most of the people who had been invited were friends of Felicity's that she'd met at one of Jack's coworker's dinner parties, and they had brought their children, who were all between the ages of one and six, along with several neatly wrapped packages and bright bags brimming with colorful tissue paper.

There were, however, two or three witches present; they were dressed in Muggle clothing and were being overly cautious in front of the Muggle guests, meaning that Felicity must have warned them that the majority of people would be of the non-magical sort beforehand and that they'd need to be extra careful about what they may let slip during conversation. Their gifts were also hidden in the cupboard away from the others to be opened when everyone else had left, due to the fact that they were probably wizarding toys.

Cedric showed up five minutes after one, ringing the doorbell after standing on the step for a few minutes as he searched for the small button, and he was welcomed by a smiling Lucy and a chaste kiss. He explained that he'd become a bit lost after apparating to the graveyard behind the church a few streets over, as he had momentarily forgotten what her house number was, but it had been easy to find once he'd remembered.

Grabbing his hand, she led him into the house and out into the back garden where, due to the clear sky and warm weather, most of the party guests had taken residence with their cups of cool lemonade and iced tea. Lucy spotted her parents near the tree in the back talking to a redheaded woman with her four-year-old tugging at her arm, and, after a brief nod of okay from Cedric, she guided him over to them.

Felicity, who had met him at the Quidditch World Cup, greeted him warmly and tried to make small talk by asking how his mother and father were doing, while Jack, whose shoulders had tensed up as they had approached, exchanged a brief and awkward handshake with him before he cleared his throat loudly and started to shift from foot to foot as they continued their conversation. Andrew, who was resting on Felicity's hip, kept trying to pull Lucy's attention back to himself, shouting, "Lulu, look!" while pointing to random things around the area and reaching out to tangle his little fingers in her hair.

John didn't seem to particularly care about Cedric's arrival and didn't even bother to approach them, instead remaining in his solitary place against the fence as he drank his tea and did his best to ignore the other people surrounding him. Patricia, however, managed to corner Lucy in the kitchen when she'd offered to get him a drink, and tried to pry all of the "juicy" details about their relationship out of her while referring to Cedric as "lush" and "a total dish."

Once she'd managed to escape her aunt's clutches and made it back out into the garden, she noticed that Amanda had approached him; her cheeks were a deep shade of pink and her previously surly attitude had changed dramatically as she batted her eyelashes up at him. Though he was speaking to her younger cousin cheerfully enough, he also seemed a bit uncomfortable about all of the attention, and he looked relieved when she appeared by his side once again with a glass of lemonade in her hand.

After finally getting Amanda to leave them be and being forced to play two games of child friendly bingo while trying to avoid her still information seeking aunt at every turn, Lucy was more than happy to temporarily escape from the madness and show Cedric where the bathroom was when he asked.

Edging through the adults and squealing children, Lucy escorted him through the kitchen and foyer and up the stairs to the landing, pointing out the door to the bathroom before taking a seat on the top step to wait for him and enjoy the brief moment of quiet.

"So," said Cedric as he came back out onto the landing, "alone at last, then, huh?"

"Looks like it," Lucy said, smiling softly; it was the first time that they'd been able to speak privately since he'd arrived, as they'd been surrounded by other party guests and her family, and it felt nice for it to just be the two of them. "Sorry, I know that meeting my whole family at once probably must feel like a bit much."

Cedric chuckled and shook his head. "No, not at all," he said. "I mean, it was a bit overwhelming at first, but they've been very welcoming, really. It's fine."

"I'm sorry about my aunt," she said. "She can be a bit persistent sometimes, but at least she likes you — maybe a bit too much, really; she said that you were a real dish."

"What?" he said, laughing. "Did she really say that?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah," she said, grinning, "and lush."

"All right, then," he said as he took a few steps toward her. "Being called lush isn't too bad, I'd say."

"Don't go getting a big head over it," she said teasingly. "She thinks that the majority of Travis's friends are lush, too."

Cedric's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How do you know that?"

"Let's just say that my aunt isn't one to keep her thoughts to herself most of the time," she said. "Once I hit fourteen, she kind of just stopped trying to censor herself around me."

"Then I definitely won't, then," he laughed. "Lucy, I was wondering something…"

"What is it, Cedric?"

"Do you have the latest copy of the _Daily Prophet_?" he asked. "My dad wouldn't let me read it. He said that I'm becoming a little too obsessive about the whole thing and that I should take a break from the news for a bit, but I already know that they're not going to talk about anything important, so I don't see why it matters if I read it or not."

"Yeah, I do," she said, nodding. "I think it's on my desk. Follow me."

She stood from her place on the stairs and walked by him, walking to her bedroom as Cedric followed after her. As she shut the door with a soft click, she watched as he took a look around.

The walls of the room had been the same shade of blue since Lucy was seven, the carpet was the same cream color as the rest of the bedrooms, and the trim along the edges was white. Her bed, with its dark purple sheets and colorful quilt, was against the wall to the left of the doorway, and her desk was on the opposite side along with her bookshelf, which was mostly filled with hand-me-down novels with creased spines and slightly wrinkled and yellowing pages. There was a dresser that had several framed photographs resting on top of it against the wall beside the door with a large painted mirror hanging above it, and Vesper's cage sat by its side in the corner, which was where the small Tawny owl was currently snoozing.

Lucy pointed him toward the desk where the _Daily Prophet_ was sitting, folded up and placed under an empty mug that had once contained her morning tea and that she had carelessly forgotten to wash. He thanked her and quickly walked over and retrieved it, not bothering to sit as he read through the newspaper.

"Nothing," he said as he refolded it and set it back on the desk beside the last of her old wrapper bracelets, "just like I thought. It's all rubbish, really. My dad did let something slip a few days ago, though: Fudge is starting to become a bit paranoid, and a bit oversensitive about every little thing."

"Yeah," Lucy said, nodding from her place on the edge of her bed, "I heard something like that, too."

"Did your mother tell you?"

"Something like that," she said hesitantly as she looked away. She wasn't sure if she should tell him everything that she had overheard her mother and Aster talking about, as a lot of it had been personal, and, after all, it was her mother's story to tell not hers.

"Are you all right?" Cedric asked, taking a seat beside her. "You seem a bit distracted."

"Oh, no," she said, smiling softly. "I'm fine, really. It's just a bit weird, being in my room with you _alone_. I'm not really sure what to do now."

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "It does feel a bit odd. Am I even allowed to be in here with you?"

Lucy shrugged. "Would you believe that I actually don't know?" she said, laughing. "My parents have never said."

"Do you think that we should get back?" he asked as he moved a bit closer to her. "I mean, I'm sure that they'll eventually notice that we've disappeared, right?"

"Eventually, yeah," she said, leaning toward him, "but we probably have a few minutes, I think."

"As long as you're sure," he said softly as their noses brushed and their lips finally touched.

They continued to kiss for a few minutes, taking momentary breaks to catch their breath before carrying on as Cedric's tongue entered her mouth and he rested his hand on her skirt-covered knee when, suddenly, they became aware of the sound of the bedroom door opening and they quickly tore away from each other.

It was Felicity, who, judging by the hard look in her eyes and her stiff expression, had seen enough to know what had been going on. "It's time to do the cake," she said, her voice harsh. "Come down, both of you."

After she had left them and returned downstairs, the embarrassed couple followed after her a minute later, hoping that no one else had noticed what had just occurred as they entered the dining room to sing _Happy Birthday_ to Andrew and watch him attempt to blow out the large candle on his cake.

Lucy spent the last hour of the party stiff and on edge, as she knew that once everyone had left her mother would confront her, and Cedric kept his head down as he did his best to remain inconspicuous and wouldn't meet either of her parents' eyes. The rest of the guests seemed completely obvious to the tension in the room and they were as cheerful as ever except for Travis, who scowled hard at the back of Cedric's head for the rest of the time that he was there.

At three o'clock, after the presents had been opened and all of the cake and other sweets had vanished from their plates, the guests began to leave; the adults said goodbye to Felicity and Jack and patted Andrew on the head before tugging their own children behind them and heading out to their cars. John and Patricia left a few minutes later along with Travis and Pippa, and Cedric followed after them after giving Lucy a very quick goodbye and a hug before hurrying out the door and down the street.

As soon as Lucy shut the door behind him she heard her mother call her name, and, knowing that she couldn't avoid what was coming, she took a deep breath and headed into the kitchen where her parents were waiting for her. Her mother was resting against the counter in front of the sink with a harsh expression on her face and her father was leaning awkwardly against the door to the pantry.

"Well," Felicity said, "would you like to explain yourself? Why were you and that boy upstairs in your room? What were you doing?"

"We weren't doing anything…" Lucy said quietly, not meeting her mother's eyes.

"Oh, really," Felicity said, her voice rising. "It certainly didn't look like you were doing nothing when I walked in to find his tongue down your throat."

Jack leaned his head back against the pantry door with a grimace. "You know," he muttered. "I really could have lived without knowing that detail."

"Answer me, Lucy," she said, ignoring her husband as she spoke directly to her daughter. "What were you thinking? It was such a foolish thing for you to do."

"It was just a kiss, that's all," Lucy said, trying to defend herself as the comment stung. "He asked where the bathroom was, so I showed him. We were only in my room because he wanted to see the latest issue of the _Daily Prophet_. It wasn't anything, Mum."

Felicity shook her head and massaged her temples for a moment before answering. "You know very well that it was something. Lucy," she said, "and you should know that there was no reason to be in there with the door shut." Lucy opened her mouth to respond, but Felicity cut her off. "I know that we never explicitly said that you couldn't take him up there, and I know that we should have, but you should have known better!"

"Should have known better?" Lucy said, frustrated; the criticism had finally become too much, and the anger at both being talked down to and the information that she'd learned from Pippa earlier rose. "How am I supposed to do that when I'm not even allowed to make my own decisions?"

Felicity gaped at her for a moment, surprised at the turn of subject, before she sighed loudly in exasperation. "Lucy —"

"No, Mum," she said, shaking her head angrily, "you're always telling me to make up my own mind, but I'm never allowed to decide anything on my own." She knew that her argument had little to nothing to do with what had happened between her and Cedric, and, though a part of her knew that this wasn't the correct time to bring it up, her frustration got the best of her and she couldn't stop herself from forming the words. "You didn't even ask if I wanted to be in Travis and Pippa's wedding, you just told them that I would. If she wouldn't have let it slip this afternoon, I probably wouldn't even have been told until the day before the first fitting."

"I forgot to tell you about that," she said, her voice high. "I admit that, but —"

"Forgot to tell me?" Lucy said, trying to push her point. "You didn't even ask me before you agreed that I would do it."

"This isn't about that, Lucy," she said sternly, her mouth in a hard line. "This is about you and Cedric being where you shouldn't have been."

Lucy pursed her lips and looked down; she knew that she was right, and she felt her own argument start to deflate as the urge to continue began to sputter and wilt. "I know that," she said feebly, "I know. I'm sorry that we were up there alone. It was stupid, and I'm sorry that we did it. I wish that we wouldn't have, okay?"

Not waiting for her parents' response, she quickly fled from the kitchen and headed up the stairs to the solitude of her own bedroom, and, once she got there, she shut the door forcefully behind her. She walked across the room and threw the crafted bracelet sitting on the desk into the rubbish bin in the corner, and, as her anger cooled and the fight began to drain out of her, she retrieved it.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, where only an hour ago this whole thing had started, she stared at the object in her hands. She and her mother had made the bracelets regularly when she was younger, but this was the only one left now; her mother had found the directions in one of those homemaking magazines, and the two of them had spent a whole week chewing different brands of bubblegum so that they'd have a large selection of colorful wrappers to use. They had been so close then, almost inseparable; it didn't even fit anymore.

She wished that she wouldn't have lost her temper, that she wouldn't have lashed out like she had. She wished that she'd gone about the whole thing differently; calmer, or at least not as hostile.

Ten minutes passed before her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, and, after she'd asked who was there, it slowly opened to reveal her hesitant mother.

"May I come in?" she asked softly as she stood in the doorway, not sure if she should enter or not.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, sure," she said as she scooted over on the bed, giving her mother room to sit.

"Look," said Felicity as she sat down beside her, "I'm not going to tiptoe around this, so I'm just going to say it, all right? What happened today wasn't okay, and I hope, now that we've established that it's not all right, that it won't happen again."

"It won't," Lucy said softly. "I really am sorry, Mum. I wasn't thinking, and everything was going so well, and now I've gone and ruined it."

Felicity shook her head and reached over, tucking a strand of hair behind Lucy's ear and out of her face. "You didn't ruin it, neither of you," she said. "Granted, it wasn't the best start we could have had, but, after a while, everything will calm down again. Of course, the next time that we meet him is probably going to be a bit uncomfortable, but, as I already said, it'll blow over eventually."

"Is Dad upset?" Lucy asked, worried. "He didn't seem to be taking all of this very well."

"Oh, he'll be fine," she said, scoffing. "He wasn't angry when I told you, you know, just concerned. He's still trying to come to terms with the fact that you have a boyfriend at all, and that you're growing up. Maybe I'm having a bit of trouble with that, too."

"I'll be seventeen in December," Lucy said softly. "I'll be of age."

"I know," Felicity said wearily. "Believe me, I know. It feels like you only just got your letter sometimes." She sighed and took Lucy's hand in hers. "Look, Lucy, I know that it may seem as though I'm being a bit inconsistent when I say that I want to teach you new skills so you can be more independent and then not really letting you do that, but I'm afraid that I'm still trying to get use to the fact that you're becoming an adult. I know that it may seem like I'm a bit overprotective, and that there are times when I treat you like you're younger than you are, but I'm just trying to make sure that you're being looked after, that you're safe. You understand that, don't you?"

"Yes, Mum," Lucy said, sighing, "I know."

"I admit that maybe I've been overdoing it a little," she said, reluctant, "but, as of today, I promise that I'll try harder to listen to your side of things, all right?"

Lucy nodded as she reached up and pushed her hair out of her face. "Yeah, and I'll try to do the same," she said, smiling faintly. "Maybe we'll get in fewer arguments this way."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Felicity laughed. "I'm afraid that you and I are too much alike. Perhaps that's why we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, and I am sure that there will be many more moments where we will disagree, but, when those moments come —and, don't worry, they will, just remember that I love you and that I'm only trying to do what I feel is best, all right?"

"All right," Lucy said lightheartedly, before Felicity reached over and pulled her into a tight hug, crushing her against her chest as the teen got a mouthful of her cardigan. "Ugh — Mum!"

"We are having a moment here, so stop fighting it and hug your mother back," Felicity said as she hugged her closer. Lucy gave in and, after a moment, her mother finally let her go as she noticed the item still clutched in her hand. "Is that what I think it is? You still have one? I thought that we threw them all away."

"Not all of them," Lucy said, looking down at the bracelet. "I kept this one."

"Why would you, though?" she asked, curious. "It's just rubbish."

Lucy didn't say anything and simply hummed in response as she turned the bracelet between her fingers, watching the colored wrappers shift.

Felicity shrugged and reached over, messing up Lucy's hair. "Well, suit yourself," she said as she stood up, "but, if you're not too busy, would you mind coming downstairs in a bit to help your father and I clean up? There are used cups and plate everywhere. It's all a bit of a mess."

"Right, yeah," said Lucy, nodding. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

Once her mother had left, Lucy, now feeling much better about what had occurred, stood from her place on the bed and, after placing the handmade jewelry back on her desk, headed downstairs to help her parents with the sticky plates and half-empty cups of lemonade that the guests had left behind.


End file.
